The controls in the adjustment panels in the
Develop module let you affect the color and tone of an entire photo.
But sometimes you don’t want to make adjustments globally, to the
entire photo. You want to make corrections to a specific area of
a photo. For example, you may want to lighten a face to make it
stand out in a portrait or enhance the blue sky in a landscape.
To make local corrections in Lightroom Classic CC, you can apply color and
tonal adjustments using the Adjustment Brush tool and the Graduated
Filter tool.

The Adjustment Brush tool lets you selectively
apply Exposure, Clarity, Brightness, and other adjustments to photos
by “painting” them onto the photo.

The Graduated Filter tool
lets you apply Exposure, Clarity, and other tonal adjustments gradually
across a region of a photo. You can make the region as wide or as
narrow as you like.

As with all other adjustments applied
in the Develop module in Lightroom Classic CC, local adjustments are nondestructive
and are not permanently applied to the photo.

Drag the individual effect sliders to increase or decrease
the values.

(Adjustment Brush tool only) Specify options for Adjustment
Brush A:

Size

Specifies the diameter of the brush tip in pixels.

Feather

Creates a soft-edged transition between the brushed area
and the surrounding pixels. When you use the brush, the distance
between the inner and outer circle represents the feather amount.

Flow

Controls the rate of application of the adjustment.

Auto Mask

Confines brush strokes to areas of similar color.

Density

Controls the amount of transparency in the stroke.

Drag in the photo to apply the effect.

A pin appears
at the initial application point, and the Mask mode changes to Edit.
For a Graduated Filter effect, three white guides represent the
center, low, and high ranges of the effect.

Modify a Graduated Filter or Radial Filter using brush controls

You can modify Graduated Filter masks using brush controls. Once you've added a mask, to access brush controls, select the Brush option next to New/Edit.

As appropriate, use the + and - (Erase) brushes. Lightroom Classic CC lets you customize three different filter brushes: A (+), B (+), and Erase (-). You can customize the following settings for these brushes:

Size: The size of the brush

Feather: The amount of feathering for the brush

Flow: How much paint is applied to the area for every stroke. For example, if the Flow is set to 20%, 20% paint strength is applied for the first stroke. The subsequent stroke brings up the paint strength to 40%.

Density: The maximum opacity that the brush paints. If you have this setting at 40%, for example, the brush will not paint opacity greater than 40%.

Note:

Enable the AutoMask option to paint inside the edges of an area. Lightroom Classic CC masks the area to ensure that your brushstrokes don’t go beyond it. When you paint, ensure that the core part of the brush is inside the area you want to paint.

Filter brush settings

To reset any changes made to the three brushes: A, B, and Erase and revert them to their default states, click Reset Brushes.

Edit an Adjustment Brush or Graduated Filter/Radial Filter effect

To edit an Adjustment Brush or Graduated Filter effect, you can do any of the following:

Press H to hide or show the pin and Graduated Filter guides, or choose a display mode from the Show Edit Pins menu in the toolbar.

Press O to hide or show a mask overlay of the Adjustment Brush tool effect, or use the Show Selected Mask Overlay option in the toolbar.

Press Shift+O to cycle through a red, green, or white mask overlay of the Adjustment Brush tool effect.

Remove an Adjustment Brush effect or a Graduated Filter effect by selecting its pin and pressing Delete.

(Adjustment Brush tool) Move the pointer over the pin and drag the double-pointing arrow to the right to increase the effect, or to the left to decrease the effect.

(Adjustment Brush tool) To undo part of the adjustment, select the Erase brush option, and paint over the adjustment.

(Graduated Filter tool) Drag the pin to move the center point of the effect.

(Graduated Filter tool) Position the pointer over the center white line until a curved, double-pointing arrow appears , and then drag to rotate the effect.

(Graduated Filter tool) Drag an outer white line toward the edge of the photo to expand the effect at that end of the spectrum. Drag toward the center of the photo to contract the effect at that end of the spectrum.

You begin by creating a quick initial masking selection with Adjustment Brushes or Radial Filter/Graduated Filter. Then, refine your selection using the Color Range Selector to sample colors within the mask area, Luminance Range Selector or slider to set the luminance range endpoints of the selection mask, or Depth Range Selector or slider to set the depth range endpoints of the selection mask.

Work with Depth Range Mask

Note:

Depth Range Mask is available for only those photos that have embedded depth map data. As of now, this is limited to HEIC files captured on Apple iPhone 7+, 8+ and X, XS, XS MAX, XR (see the list of supported Apple iPhones) using the Portrait mode in the built-in iOS camera app. If there is no available depth info for an image, Depth option is disabled in the Range Mask drop-down.

After making an initial selection mask on your photo with Adjustment Brushes or Radial Filter/Graduated Filters, you can refine the mask area based on the depth range of the selection.

Select a photo to edit in the Library module and press D to switch to the Develop module. To switch to a different photo in the Develop module, choose it from the Collections panel or the Filmstrip.

Note:

To apply adjustments with the Depth Range Mask to your existing HEIC images (with embedded depth map) whose Smart Previews were generated in Lightroom Classic CC 7.5, you need to regenerate Smart Previews for such images after upgrading to the latest Lightroom Classic version. This is to ensure that the depth map information is included in the Smart Preview files. Select the files for which you want to regenerate Smart Previews, and then click Library > Previews > Build Smart Previews.

HEIC photo with depth information to be edited in Develop module

Select the Adjustment Brush tool, the Graduated Filter tool, or the Radial Filter tool from the tool strip of the Develop module. Then, create an initial selection mask over a specific area of your photo that you want to correct.

Initial mask area created using a Graduated Filter that covers the whole photo

From the Brush settings area in the Adjustment panel, choose the Range Mask type as Depth from the drop-down list. By default, Range Mask is set as Off.

To select a depth range within the mask area, do any of the following:

Adjust the Range slider to define the endpoints of the selected depth range.

Select Depth Range Selector from the Range Mask panel. Click+drag an area on the photo you want to adjust. It is recommended to choose a smaller area using the Depth Range Selector tool to narrow down on a specific depth range.

The Depth Range Selector tool is an optional shortcut to refine the Range slider based on your selection.

Visualizing the depth mask created over objects in the foreground to apply selective adjustments.

Select the Show Depth Mask check box to view the depth of the image in black and white representation. The part of photo in white represents the foreground, while the part of photo in black represents the background. The red color shows the actual area masked which is an intersection of depth and local adjustment applied.

Use the Smoothness slider to adjust how smooth the falloff is at either end of the selected depth range.

Note:

For a more precise view of the mask area, press Alt (Win)/Option (Mac) key area while moving the Range or Smoothness slider to get black and white visualization over your photo.

Local adjustments applied to the depth mask.

After refining the mask area, you can now make selective adjustments from the Effect pop-up menu to create precise photographic edits.

Work with Color Range Mask

After making an initial selection mask on your photo with Adjustment Brushes or Radial Filter/Graduated Filters, you can refine the selection mask based on the colors that you sample within the mask area.

Select a photo to edit in the Library module and press D to switch to the Develop module. To switch to a different photo in the Develop module, choose it from the Collections panel or the Filmstrip.

Photo to be edited in Develop module

Select the Adjustment Brush tool, the Graduated Filter tool, or the Radial Filter tool from the tool strip of the Develop module. Then, create an initial selection mask over a specific area of your photo that you want to correct.

Initial mask area created using a Graduated Filter that covers the whole photo

From the Brush settings area in the Adjustment panel, choose the Range Mask type as Color from the drop-down list. By default, Range Mask is set as Off.

Use Color Range Selector to sample color within the mask area. Do any of the following:

To sample a single color within the mask area, click Color Range Selector at the required location on your photo.

For more accurate color selection, do any of the following:

Click+drag an area around the colors in the photo that you want to adjust.

Shift+click to add multiple color samples. You can add up to five color samples by holding Shift while clicking on the image.

To remove an existing color sample within the color range mask, Option(Mac)/Alt(Win)+click the sample that you want to remove.

A Color Range Mask covering the background tones in the photo. The Color Range Mask has been created by selecting an area that includes all background colors using Color Range selector near the upper-left of the photo. Then, using the Color Range slider to reduce the effect on the leaves.

Adjust the Amount slider to narrow or broaden the range of selected colors.

Note:

For a more precise view of the mask area, press Alt (Win)/Option (Mac) key area while moving the Amount slider to get black and white visualization over your photo.

Press Esc key to exit color sampling.

Local adjustments applied to the color mask. Decreased Exposure, Highlights, and Saturation in the Effects menu to darken the background and make the leaves stand out more.

After refining the mask area, you can now make selective adjustments from the Effect pop-up menu to create precise photographic edits.

Work with Luminance Range Mask

After making an initial selection mask on your photo with Adjustment Brushes or Radial Filter/Graduated Filters, you can refine the mask area based on the luminance range of the selection.

Select a photo to edit in the Library module and press D to switch to the Develop module. To switch to a different photo in the Develop module, choose it from the Collections panel or the Filmstrip.

Photo to be edited in Develop module

Select the Adjustment Brush tool, the Graduated Filter tool, or the Radial Filter tool from the tool strip of the Develop module. Then, create an initial selection mask over a specific area of your photo that you want to correct.

Initial mask area created using a Graduated Filter that covers the sky in the photo

From the Brush settings area in the Adjustment panel, choose the Range Mask type as Luminance from the drop-down list. By default, Range Mask is set as Off.

A Luminance Range Mask covering the lighter yellow clouds that occupy the majority of the central part of the scene.

To select a luminance range within the mask area, do any of the following:

Adjust the Range slider to define the endpoints of the selected luminance range.

Select Luminance Range Selector from the Range Mask panel. Click+drag an area on the photo you want to adjust. It is recommended to select a small area to narrow down on a specific luminance range.

The Luminance Range Selector tool is an optional shortcut to refine the Range slider based on your selection.

Select the Show Luminance Mask check box to view the luminance information of the photo in black and white representation. The part in red color shows the actual area masked which is an intersection of luminance and local adjustment applied.

Use the Smoothness slider to adjust how smooth the falloff is at either end of the selected luminance range.

Note:

For a more precise view of the mask area, press Alt (Win)/Option (Mac) key area while moving the Range or Smoothness slider to get black and white visualization over your photo.

Local adjustments applied to the Luminance Range Mask. Increased Temperature, Contrast, and Highlights in the Effects menu to enhance the color contrast in the scene.

After refining the mask area, you can now make selective adjustments from the Effect pop-up menu to create precise photographic edits.

Work with multiple local adjustments

When applying and working with multiple local
adjustments, keep in mind the following:

Click any
pin to select it. A selected pin has a black center. Non-selected
pins are solid white.

Press H once to show the selected pin; press H again to hide
all pins; press H a third time to show all pins.

When the Adjustment Brush tool is selected, only adjustment
pins are available to edit. When the Graduated Filter tool is selected,
only graduated filter pins are available to edit.

The Adjustment Brush tool drawer allows you to specify options
for two brushes, A and B. Select a brush by clicking the letter,
or switch between brushes by pressing the slash key (/).
Brush options “stick” regardless of the effect you choose to apply
until you change them.

Create local adjustment effect
presets

To create local adjustment effect presets, follow these steps:

Using either the Graduated Filter or
Adjustment Brush tool, apply an effect.

Choose Save Current Settings As New Preset from the Effect
pop-up menu.

In the New Preset dialog box, type a name in the Preset
Name box and click Create.